The physical and flow characteristics of particulate materials, such as ice, results in problems with these storage and dispensing of the particulate material. In known dispensing apparatus, conveying media such as fluids and in particular air can be used to convey ice in batches in a discharge conduit from the dispensing apparatus to a desired location which can be remote from the dispensing apparatus. The batches of ice can be formed by accumulating ice under gravity. However, the use of gravity to effect accumulation of ice and the like requires the use of downwardly or vertically oriented conduits and the like. The use of gravity alone to effect the movement of the particulate material can be uncontrollable and hence unreliable and require excessive height for the gravity drop hereinbefore described.
Particulate materials such as ice also have a tendency to fuse or form larger aggregates or particles when stored in storage hoppers. Large particles or aggregates of ice, when formed, can be difficult or impossible to dispense or can cause blockages in storage hoppers either in the hopper proper or in dispensing pipes extending from the storage hopper through which the ice is discharged--large aggregates or large particulates of ice being unable to pass through the dispensing pipe.
Moreover, storage hoppers can in fact accelerate fusion due to the particulate material being compressed during storage in the storage hopper. In addition, fused or compressed ice in a storage hopper can result in "bridging" where the fused ice can cause the ice to form an ice bridge over a discharge opening communicating with the dispensing pipe and ice therefore fails to discharge from the storage hopper.
Ice and other particulate material dispensing apparatus of the prior art can employ delivery means in the form of a delivery auger for delivering the particulate material from the dispensing apparatus. Generally, the delivery auger conveys ice and the like into the dispensing pipe. However, it is known for particulate materials to either become jammed between the delivery auger and the dispensing pipe or alternatively for the particulate material to be damaged by a rotating delivery auger if trapped between eh dispensing pipe and the delivery auger.